...... the swoopy "wave" pan etc etc were just window dressing I am sure.
That may be true but maybe not. I've looked at many Smith guns (both William and Sam & C), mostly shotguns and pistols but perhaps a rifle or two (don't remember for sure) and a definitive pattern developed. Every shotgun (without exception) carried the "swoopy wave" pans and all pistols and rifles save for 1 pistol (or perhaps a brace, boy my memory sucks) carried typical V type pans. The conclusion that I drew from this (which is PURE speculation so should be taken with a block of salt) is that perhaps the "swoopy wave" pan which leans forward, is designed so that the pan will be oriented more or less level when in the elevated firing position taken when wing shooting. Does this (if it's true) give the lock some kind of advantage?, maybe, maybe not. But what it does is suggest that there may have been a purpose to the "swoopy wave" pan other that just 'window dressing'.
